Shing! Shing!

Both earrings glowed brightly when Iqaos infused his Spiritual Power into them. Although Sylvidia felt a bit suspicious, she didn’t say anything since she couldn’t be sure.

After a while, the bright glow finally dimmed, the earrings look the same as before but now they have this divine presence around them, it felt a bit magical. Seeing that the process is done already, I slowly retracted my hand.

“It is done, now… please put on your earring.” Iqaos prompted me to put on the earring as soon as he’s done. All of us didn’t suspect anything and I just attached the earring to the lobe of my left ear directly. I would have done just that even without Iqaos telling me to do so though.

As soon as the earring is properly attached, I could feel a surge of divine energy flooding within me. I couldn’t help but exclaimed in surprise, “T-this is-!”

“Kukuku… It seems like you noticed!” Iqaos chuckled smugly. At the same time, he also thought to himself secretly, “Now, turn into my mana tank, kuhahaha!”

“Hm? What, what? What is happening?” Sheena was confused and looked back and forth between our exchange.

“Well… the thing is… as soon as I put on the earring, I could feel a surge of power welling up within it… It feels like… the earring is much more potent than before…” I tried to describe the strange feeling I’m getting from the earring to Sheena as clearly as possible.

“Hm-hm-hmph! Obviously! That earring is infused with my father’s Spiritual Power after all! It might not be as powerful as a Spirit Item nor a Divine Artifact, but it is still more powerful than an ordinary Magic Item!” Futaba explained proudly, she raised her head high and put both hands on the waist.

“Kukuku… now that everything here has been settled, how about we head to Pharamville immediately?” As he said that, Iqaos walked towards Sheena prompted her to hold on to the other half of the earrings.

All of us were confused, “Isn’t he supposed to keep one of the vessel for himself?” Or so we thought at the time, but Sheena still took the earring from Iqaos without saying a word. When she did so, Iqaos finally explained, “We need to enshrine that vessel in the local temple. Can I request you to do that for me?”

“O-oh… sure! Hehehe…” Sheena laughed awkwardly since she thought Iqaos was giving that earring to her. I couldn’t help but sympathize with her at the moment. If I was in her boots, I probably would have misunderstood as well.

With that said and done, all of us headed towards the small town of Pharamville. When we got back to the town, we can see the newly constructed temple that is made up of polished rocks.

In front of the small temple, almost all the villagers are kowtowing there and praying as if their life depended on it. I guess all of them had noticed the giant fox shadow from earlier, I can even see some of them trembling in fear.

I can’t really blame them for acting like this, that shadow fox was truly terrifying. That ear-piercing howl alone could strike fear in the hearts of many, even Sylvidia’s face had turned pale at the sight of the shadow fox.

In the foremost position of the temple are the village chief, Olaf, and the village girl, Samie. When Samie saw us approaching the temple, tears welled up in her eyes. She immediately stood up and ran towards us with teary eyes. At the same time she is running, she raised one of her hand high into the sky, and waved at us while shouting in delight, “Everyone!! I’m so glad you’re safe! We were so worried when that giant fox appeared!”

When Samie got in front of us, she grabbed my hands and said with teary eyes, “I was really… really… so worried… You have already done so much for us, I really wouldn’t know how can I ever repay you if you are dead… Hic-hic!” ⌈¹⌋

“Koraaa! You shouldn’t be so rude to our guest!” The village chief got behind Samie not long later and bonked her head.

“Ow…… You shouldn’t hit your daughter’s head like that, father!” Samie raised her complain while clutching the back of her head with both hands.

Although we were rather surprised that the village girl is actually the daughter of the village chief, that is not important at the moment. We looked around but we couldn’t find any trace of Albert and the Gryphon Riders.

“Where is Albe… Alby and the others?” Sheena asked the village chief, Olaf.

“That…” The village chief explained how when they saw the shadow fox, the Gryphon Riders immediately summoned their Gryphons and took off to search for us in the forest. Albert seems to have tagged along with them.

Flap! Flap!

“Squawk! Squawk!” Just around this time, we could hear the sound of flapping wings and the loud noise made by a bird. When we looked overhead, it was actually Albert’s familiar, the Thunderhawk, Spark.

The Thunderhawk is circling in the sky above us. It seems like it is trying to let Albert know of our current position. That Thunderhawk appears quite smart, it must be a monster with high intelligence.

Not long later, we can hear more flapping sound coming from the location of the forest. When we turn our heads over there, we can see three Gryphons flying over here. On top of the Gryphons are Albert, Caelum, and the other two riders.

Before the Gryphons even landed, Albert immediately jumped off from the Gryphon. He is fine only because the Gryphon was gliding at low altitude. Ignoring all else, Albert immediately ran towards us and pulled Sheena into his embrace.

Albert said in a shaky voice, “I… am so glad… so glad that you’re safe… Sheena…”

“A-Albert… W-what do you think you’re doing, we’re in the public!” Is what Sheena didn’t say when she felt Albert was trembling slightly.

She only lightly patted Albert’s back and said in a soothing voice, “Albert… It’s fine now. Everything is fine now…”

After a while, Albert finally calmed down and noticed the fox girl beside Sheena, he couldn’t help but ask, “This is……”

Sheena’s smile suddenly turned really bright and said in a cheerful voice, “My Lil Futaba!”

“W-Who is your Futaba! And I’m not little! Mu-kiii-! And stop clinging to me—!” Futaba raised her futile complain and got captured by the hungry beast again.

“C-could that be… the fox deity!” The villagers raised a commotion when they noticed Futaba.

When Futaba noticed the adoration in the eyes of every villagers, she folded her arms below her non-existence breasts and said haughtily, “Hm-hm-hmph! Grovel before me! For I am the proxy of the fox deity!”

It would have been effective, if not for Sheena clinging closely to her and rubbing her cheek against Futaba. Everyone looked at the scene with comforting gazes. This only makes Futaba feel all the more embarrassed, “Mu-kiii-! It didn’t work! Hey, get off me, human girl! You’re making me look lame! Mou~~!” ⌈²⌋

“It’s not human girl! It’s Sheena, repeat after me, Sh-ee-na~” As Sheena and Futaba were making various exchange, I couldn’t help but wonder, “How come everyone can see Futaba now…”

Author’s Note

Um… guys… Have I ever described the appearance of the village girl? I don’t think I did… right? o_O

Yea… how come everyone can see Futaba? Anyone can give me an answer? XD